WOMEX Supports Gender Equality and Diversity

WOMEX has always supported diversity and equality in all its forms with this in mind, we would like to share with you the following detailed figures about our own processes and statistics for WOMEX and our company Piranha Arts. Alongside some initiatives as positive examples in the fight for cultural diversity and improved gender balance, that from the start has been a driving force for the global WOMEX community.

For example, in 2017:

There were considerably more men proposing conference sessions than women or any other gender In 2017 we saw submissions from less than 30% of women-fronted artists The proposed stage line-up was less than 20% women on average.

However, while multiple factors contribute to the under-representation of women in the proposals for WOMEX and Classical:NEXT, we are proud that with the help of our Showcase and Conference juries, we achieved a clearly improved balance resulting in a selection for WOMEX itself which in 2017 showed that:

The jury consisted of three women and four men, in 2018 it is the other way round The speaker balance of the jury’s conference selection was 38 women to 31 men More than 40% of our Showcases were fronted by women 60% of our Showcases were mixed or women-only on stage.

While these may be comparatively good numbers, this still shows that there are many more men than women on our stages. Therefore we all agree that our joint efforts must continue.

We list a few projects and initiatives worthy of your attention here. We have also prepared a list of all identifying female artists from previous editions, many of which are available for booking.

We would also like to endorse and support these initiatives who are proactively addressing gender inequality in music. You can meet many of their representatives at our events.

Keychange

EPOS, All together now

Music Finland

The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative

SHESAID:SO

Women Of Colour In The Arts

Women In Music

Women Of The World

These are only a few of many examples out there. Is there an initiative which you would like to see listed here specifically? Please let us know